Comparison of Treatment of HIV Patients in Naturopathic and Biomedical Settings

Patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS have turned to a variety of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in seeking relief from their illnesses and a better quality of life. Many of them have adopted an integrative approach in which they simultaneously use biomedicine and CAM. Naturopathic physicians, are one category of CAM practitioners upon which some HIV/AIDS patients rely. This article describes naturopathic philosophy and therapeutics; examines naturopathic medical treatment of HIV/AIDS patients in two CAM treatment centers in a Western US metropolitan area; describes treatment of HIV/AIDS patients in a biomedical treatment center frequented by many of the HIV patients who have opted for an integrative approach; and compares these approaches in terms of models of practitioner-patient relationship. I argue that the naturopathic physician-patient relationship constitutes a form of social support that generally cannot be facilitated in the biomedical physician-patient relationship due to time, and perhaps philosophical, constraints.